Short Packed: Old and new arrivals at FPNYC!

By Chris Troy

Happy delicious candy-season at your local Rite Aid/Walgreens/CVS/Duane Reed FPNYC faithful! As yet another commercialized holiday approaches, let it be known that Forbidden Planet has received a ton of new toys and collectibles over the last 2 weeks, so instead of week old Peeps, why not get someone (or yourself) something a little more memorial for their Easter basket?

Coming in this past week were 2 figures based on Oni Press comic series turned beloved-but-underperformed movie Scott Pilgrim! And because no one wants a Michael Cera figures (NO ONE!), Mezco Toys decided to base the 2 figures on the graphic novel’s art style instead. These 6″ figures have limited articulation, yes, but seeing how there’s a severe lack of evil exes to interact with for the time being, it’s safe to say that the 8 points of articulation they sport will get the job done for display purposes. Final Battle Scott comes with his Love Katana (not an innuendo I swear), while Rock Showdown Scott comes with his bass. I’m fairly certain those aren’t the real names of the figures, but hey, it’s like 11:35pm, I’m tired, cut me some slack. Google’s failed me twice.

It’s been awhile since we got a shipment of new Gunpla is stock, but over the last 2 weeks, that’s been resolved. FPNYC received a variety of kits from the Gundam Wingand Gundam SEED franchises, including some really hard to find older models. These series are some of our best sellers to date, and the kits range from 1/144th scale to some higher priced larger scale kits. But the model kit love doesn’t stop there! We’ve also received a plethora of non-Gundam kits from Bandai, including series like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Kamen Rider, Keroro Gunso (aka Sgt. Frog), Dragon Ball and One Piece too!

Despite what you think, Bandai isn’t the only one in town (the town being Japan obviously) who produces mecha model kits. Diamond Comic Selects is known from time to time to bring over some more obscure non-Gundam mecha kits out to the US. To the left you see the box for one of my favorite mecha, the ARX-7 Arbalest from Fullmetal Panic: The 2nd Raid! It’s about the same size of an average 1/144th scale Gunpla kit, but goes for slightly less because Diamond covers the imports fees for US Retailers (Nice huh?) We’ve also received kits based on SEGA’s Virtua-On mecha video games. While not many of them have made it the US for one reason or another (mostly sales), there is a small but dedicated community of fans interested in these kits, as we’ve sold out of them from time to time. Either way, these kits run for about $40-$50 each, and you can expect the same amount of quality you would find with a Gunpla.

Avoiding an easy to make heavy-metal pun,the 2nd wave of Iron Man: Armored Avenger figures are now in stock ! Once again, we are treated to 2 variant Iron Man armors (the Blue Stealth armor and Iron Lanter-ER, Mark V Evolution armor…yeah I don’t know either), a post Civil War accurate War Machine from Marvel’s Avengers: The Initiative series, and Iron Man punching-bad Crimson Dynamo. Obviously War Machine and Dynamo are the high points of this line, unless you want 2 Iron Man figures that vaguely look like DC Universe heroes. Either way, they go for under $20 a pop!

That’s all for this week FPNYC Faithful. Tune in next week, where, assuming DC Direct is done lying, we’re scheduled to get in the much-delayed first (and now only) wave of Mass Effect 2 figures, which will lead to some sadness and joy on my part undoubtedly.